Author	James Fenimore Cooper
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Leatherstocking Tales
Genre	Adventure novel, Historical novel
Publisher	Lea & Blanchard: Philadelphia
Release date	1841
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	560 pp in two volumes
Isbn	NA
Preceded by	The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea (1840)

The Deerslayer, or The First Warpath (1841) was the last of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking tales to be written. Its 1740-1745 time period makes it the first installment chronologically and in the lifetime of the hero of the Leatherstocking tales, Natty Bumppo. The novel's setting on Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York, is the same as that of The Pioneers, the first of the Leatherstocking tales to be published (1823). The Deerslayer is considered to be the prequel to the rest of the Leatherstocking tales. Fenimore Cooper begins his work by relating the astonishing advance of civilization in New York State, which is the setting of four of his five Leatherstocking tales.

Plot

This novel introduces Natty Bumppo as "Deerslayer", a young frontiersman in early 18th-century New York. He is contrasted to other frontiersmen and settlers in the novel who have no compunctions in taking scalps in that his natural philosophy is that every living thing should follow "the gifts" of its nature—which would keep European Americans from taking scalps. Two such characters in the work who actually seek to take scalps are Henry March ("Hurry Harry") and floating Tom Hutter.

In the dead of night Hutter and March sneak into the camp of the besieging members of the Huron tribe in order to kill and scalp as many as they can. Their plan fails, and Tom Hutter and March are captured. They are later ransomed by Bumppo, his lifelong friend Chingachgook, and Hutter's daughters, Judith and Hetty. Bumppo and Chingachgook come up with a plan to rescue Chingachgook's kidnapped betrothed Wah-ta!-Wah from the Hurons; but, in rescuing her, Bumppo is captured. In his absence, the Hurons invade Hutter's home, and Hutter is mortally wounded and scalped. After the death of Hutter his supposed daughters find out that they were not his natural daughters and he had been a notorious pirate. Bumppo's remaining allies and friends plan how to aid his escape from his Huron captors.

Criticism

The brunt of Mark Twain's Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses (1895) fell on The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder. Twain wrote at the beginning of the essay: "In one place in Deerslayer, and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record." He then lists 18 out of 19 rules "governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction" that Cooper violates in The Deerslayer.

External links

Category:1841 novels Category:Novels by James Fenimore Cooper Category:American historical novels Category:Novels set in the American colonial era Category:19th-century American novels Category:New York in fiction

Name	Peter Tork
Birth name	Peter Halsten Thorkelson
Background	solo_singer
Born	February 13, 1942Washington, D.C.
Instrument	Bass guitar, guitar, piano, keyboards, banjo, vocals
Genre	Rock, pop rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock, rock and roll, pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, artist, activist
Years active	1964–present
Label	Colgems, RCA, Bell, Arista, Rhino, Sire Records
Associated acts	The Monkees, Shoe Suede Blues, George Harrison, James Lee Stanley, Release, Cottonmouth, The Peter Tork Project
Url	www.petertork.com

Peter Tork (b. February 13, 1942) is an American musician and actor, best known as a member of The Monkees. Although born in 1942, many news articles report him as born in 1944 as this was the date given on early Monkees press releases.

Early life

Tork was born Peter Halsten Thorkelson in Washington, D.C. and began studying piano at the age of nine, showing an aptitude for music by learning to play several different instruments, including the banjo and acoustic and bass guitars. Tork attended Windham High School in Willimantic, Connecticut, then was a member of the first graduating class at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut. He attended Carleton College before he moved to New York City, where he became part of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village during the first half of the 1960s. While there, he befriended other up-and-coming musicians such as Stephen Stills.

The Monkees

Stills suggested Tork audition for a new television series about four pop-rock musicians, when the producers asked if Stills 'had a better looking (musician) friend'. Tork got the job and became one of the four members of The Monkees, who ended up being both characters in a television sitcom and a band in their own right.

Tork was a proficient musician, and though the group generally did not play their own instruments on their first two albums, he was an exception, playing what he described as "third chair guitar" on Mike Nesmith's song "Papa Gene's Blues" from their first album. He susequently played keyboards, bass guitar, banjo, harpsichord, and other instruments on their recordings. He also co-wrote, along with Joey Richards, the closing theme song of the second season of The Monkees, "For Pete's Sake". On the television show, he was relegated to playing the "lovable dummy", even though he is actually a highly intelligent, literate person, as the other Monkees have always been keen to point out in subsequent interviews.

In commentary tracks included in the DVD release of the first season of the show, Nesmith stated that Tork was better at playing guitar than bass. In Tork's commentary, he stated that Jones was a good drummer and had the live performance lineups been based solely on playing ability, it should have been Tork on guitar, Nesmith on bass, and Jones on drums, with Dolenz taking the fronting role, rather than as it was done (with Nesmith on guitar, Tork on bass, and Dolenz on drums). Jones filled in briefly for Tork on bass when he played keyboards.

Recording and producing as a group was Tork's major interest, and he hoped that the four members would continue working together as a band on future recordings. However, the four did not have enough in common regarding their musical interests. In commentary for the DVD release of the second season of the show, Tork said that Dolenz was "incapable of repeating a triumph".

Tork, once free from Don Kirshner's restrictions, in 1967, contributed some of the most memorable and catchy instrumental flourishes, such as the piano introduction to "Daydream Believer" and the banjo part on "You Told Me", as well as exploring occasional songwriting with the likes of "For Pete's Sake" and "Lady's Baby".

Tork was close to his grandmother, staying with her sometimes in his Greenwich Village days, and after he became a Monkee. "Grams" was one of his most strident supporters and managed his fan club, often writing personal letters to members, and visited music stores to make sure they carried Monkees records.

Six albums were produced with the original Monkees lineup, four of which went to No 1 on the Billboard chart. This success was supplemented by two years of the TV show, a series of successful concert tours both across America and abroad, and a trippy-psychedelic movie, Head a bit ahead of its time,. However, tensions, both musical and personal were increasing within the group. The band finished a Far East tour in December 1968 (where his copy of Naked Lunch was confiscated by Australian Customs) and then filmed an NBC television special, 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee, which rehashed many of the ideas from Head, only with the Monkees playing a strangely second-string role.

No longer getting the group dynamic he wanted, and pleading "exhaustion" from the grueling schedule, Tork bought out the remaining four years of his contract after filming was complete on December 20, 1968, at a default of $150,000/year. In the DVD commentary for the 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee TV special - originally broadcast April 14, 1969 - Dolenz noted that Nesmith gave Tork a gold watch as a going-away present, engraved "From the guys down at work". Tork kept the back, but replaced the watch several times in later years.

Post-Monkees

Striking out on his own, he formed a group called 'Release' with girlfriend Reine Stewart on drums (she had played drums on part of 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee) and Riley "Wildflower" Cummings on bass. Tork said in April '69, "We sometimes have four. We're thinking of having a rotating fourth. Right now, the fourth is that girl I'm promoting named Judy Mayhan." Release hoped to have a record out immediately, and one of their songs almost got on the soundtrack to Easy Rider, but they couldn't secure a record contract and by 1970 Tork was once again a solo artist. During this time, Tork contributed banjo to George Harrison's 1968 soundtrack to the film Wonderwall and was also credited with co-arranging a Micky Dolenz solo single on MGM Records in 1971 ("Easy On You", b/w "Oh Someone").

In 1976, Tork reunited with fellow Monkees Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz for the recording of a Christmas single, which saw limited release.

To make ends meet, Tork periodically worked as a high school substitute teacher, tutor, and basketball coach.

Sire Records

A chance meeting with Sire Records executive Pat Horgan at the Bottom Line in New York City led to Tork recording a six-song demo, his first recording in many years. Recorded in summer 1980, it featured Tork, who sang, played rhythm guitar, keyboards, and banjo; it was backed by Southern rock band Cottonmouth, led by guitarist/singer/songwriter Johnny Pontiff, featuring Gerard Trahan on guitar/keyboards/vocals, Gene Pyle on bass guitar/vocals and Gary Hille on drums/percussion.

Horgan produced the six tracks (which included two Monkees covers, "Shades Of Gray" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday"), with George Dispigno as engineer. The four other tracks were "Good Looker," "Since You Went Away" (which appeared on the Monkees 1987 CD "Pool It"), "Higher & Higher" and "Hi Hi Babe." Also present at the sessions were Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, and Tommy Ramone of The Ramones. The tracks were recorded at Blue Horizon House, 165 West 74th Street, home of Sire Records, but Seymour Stein, president of Sire, rejected the demo, stating "there's nothing there." Tork recorded a second set of demos in New York City, but little is known about these (other than the fact that one track was a yet another version of "Pleasant Valley Sunday" with an unknown rock band, and featured a violin solo).

During this time Tork appeared regularly on The Uncle Floyd Show broadcast on U-68 out of New Jersey. He performed comedy bits and lip-synced the Sire recordings. Floyd claimed Peter was the "first real star" to appear on the show. (Later, Davy Jones, The Ramones and others would follow in his footsteps.)

In 1981, he released a 45 rpm single, his first solo record,(" I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" b/w "Higher And Higher") and did some club performances and live television appearances, including taking part in a "Win A Date With Peter Tork" bit on Late Night with David Letterman.

Monkees reunion

In 1986, Tork rejoined fellow Monkees Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz for a highly successful 20th anniversary reunion tour. Three new songs were recorded by Tork and Dolenz for a greatest hits release. In 1987, the three Monkees recorded Pool It!. A decade later, all four group members recorded Justus, the first recordings with all four members since 1968. The quartet performed live in the United Kingdom, but for the next several years only the trio of Tork, Dolenz and Jones toured together.

Since 1986, Tork has intermittently toured with his former band mates and also played with his own bands The Peter Tork Project and Shoe Suede Blues. In 1991, Peter Tork formed a band called The Dashboard Saints and played at a pizza restaurant in Guerneville, California. In 1994, he released his first album length solo project, Stranger Things Have Happened, which featured brief appearances by Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith. In 1996, Peter collaborated on an album called Two Man Band with James Lee Stanley. The duo followed up in 2001 with a second release, Once Again.

In 2001 Peter took time out from a tour to appear in a leading role in a short film, MIXED SIGNALS, written and directed by John Graziano.

In 2005, Tork resumed working with his band Peter Tork and Shoe Suede Blues. The band performs original blues music, Monkees covers (blues versions of some), and covers of classic blues hits by greats such as Muddy Waters. The band toured extensively in 2006-7 following the release of album "Cambria Hotel".

Tork also had an occasional roles as Topanga Lawrence's father on the sitcom Boy Meets World, as well as a guest character on 7th Heaven. In 1995, Tork appeared as himself on the show Wings, bidding against Crystal Bernard's character for the Monkeemobille. In 1999, he appeared as The Bandleader in season one episode 13 (Best Man) of The King of Queens.

In early 2008, Tork added "advice columnist" to his extensive resume by authoring an online advice and info column called "Ask Peter Tork" at the webzine The Daily Panic, located at thedailypanic.com

Cancer

March 3, 2009, Tork reported on his website that he had been diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare, slow-growing form of head and neck cancer. A preliminary biopsy discovered that the cancer had not spread beyond the initial site. "It's a bad news, good news situation," explained Tork. "It's so rare a combination (on the tongue) that there isn't a lot of experience among the medical community about this particular combination. On the other hand, the type of cancer it is, never mind the location, is somewhat well known, and the prognosis, I'm told, is good." Tork underwent radiation treatment to prevent the cancer from returning.

March 4, 2009, Peter underwent extensive surgery in New York City, which was successful.

June 11, 2009, a spokesman for Tork reported that his cancer had returned. Tork was reportedly "shaken but not stirred" by the news, and the doctors have given him an 80% chance of containing and shrinking the new tumor.

July 2009, while undergoing radiation therapy, he was interviewed by the Washington Post: "I recovered very quickly after my surgery, and I've been hoping that my better-than-average constitution will keep the worst effects of radiation at bay. My voice and energy still seem to be in decent shape, so maybe I can pull these gigs off after all." He continued to tour and perform while receiving his treatments.

September 15, 2009, Tork received an "all clear" from his doctor.

Personal life

Tork currently resides in Storrs, Connecticut. Peter has been married 3 times, he has three children:

Hallie Elizabeth (b. 25 January 1970) with Reine Stewart

Ivan Joseph Iannoli (b. 22 December 1975) with Barbara Iannoli

Erica Marie (b. 15 June 1997) with Tammy Sustek.

Song list

All songs written by Peter Tork or co-written by Tork as indicated.

"For Pete's Sake" (Peter Tork, Joseph Richards)

"Band 6" (Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork)

"Zilch" (Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork)

"Goin' Down" (Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Diane Hilderbrand)

"No Time" (Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork) but credited to Hank Cicalo

"Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?"

"Can You Dig It?"

"Lady's Baby"

"Tear the Top Right Off My Head"

"Gettin' In"

"MGB-GT"

"Merry Go Round" (Peter Tork, Diane Hilderbrand)

"Get What You Pay For"

"Sea Change"

"I Believe You"

"Run Away From Life"

"Miracle"

"Tender Is"

"Easy Rider"

"Hi Babe"

"Little Girl"

"God Given Grant" (Peter Tork, Nick Thorkelson) "Ain't Your Fault"

"Mister Bob" (Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Eric Van Den Brink)

References

External links

The Official Peter Tork Website

The Official Shoe Suede Blues Website

Peter Tork Interview from The Zone Magazine February 2008

Ask Peter Tork

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:American film actors Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American musicians of Norwegian descent Category:American television actors Category:Cancer patients Category:Carleton College alumni Category:Songwriters from Washington, D.C. Category:The Monkees members Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics

Name	Béla Lugosi
Caption	Lugosi in 1920
Birth name	Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó
Birth date	October 20, 1882
Birth place	Lugos, Austria–Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania)
Death date	August 16, 1956
Death place	Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1917–1956
Website	http://www.lugosi.com
Spouse	Ilona Szmick(1917–1920)Ilona von Montagh (1921–1924) (divorced)Beatrice Weeks (1929–1929) (divorced)Lillian Arch (1933–1953) (divorced) 1 childHope Lininger (1955–1956) (his death)

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (20 October 188216 August 1956) commonly known as Béla Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for playing Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version. In the last years of his career he was featured in several of Ed Wood's low budget films.

Early life

Lugosi, the youngest of four children, was born as Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in Lugos (at the time part of Austria–Hungary, now Lugoj in Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blasko, a banker. He later based his last name on his hometown. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. He went on to Shakespeare plays and other major roles. Moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theater of Hungary in the period 1913–1919. Although Lugosi would later claim that he "became the leading actor of Hungary's Royal National Theater", almost all his roles there were small or supporting parts.

During World War I, he served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914 to 1916. There he rose to the rank of captain in the ski patrol and was awarded a medal equivalent to the Purple Heart for being wounded at the Russian front. He declared his intention to become a U.S. citizen in 1928, and on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized.

On his arrival in America, the 6 foot 1 inch (1.85 m), 180 lb. (82 kg) Béla worked for some time as a laborer, then entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. With fellow Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. He acted in his first Broadway play, The Red Poppy, in 1922. Three more parts came in 1925–1926, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy The Devil in the Cheese. His first American film role came in the 1923 melodrama The Silent Command. Several more silent roles followed, as villains or continental types, all in productions made in the New York area.

Dracula

Lugosi was approached in the summer of 1927 to star in a Broadway production of Dracula adapted by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's novel. The Horace Liveright production was successful, running 261 performances before touring. He was soon called to Hollywood for character parts in early talkies.

In 1929, Lugosi took his place in Hollywood society and scandal when he married wealthy San Francisco widow Beatrice Weeks, but she filed for divorce four months later. Weeks cited actress Clara Bow as the "other woman".

Despite his critically acclaimed performance on stage, Lugosi was not the Universal Pictures first choice for the role of Dracula when the company optioned the rights to the Deane play and began production in 1930. A persistent rumor asserts that director Tod Browning's long-time collaborator Lon Chaney was Universal's first choice for the role, and that Lugosi was chosen only due to Chaney's death shortly before production. This is questionable, because Chaney had been under long-term contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since 1925, and had negotiated a lucrative new contract just before his death.

Chaney and Browning had worked together on several projects (including four of Chaney's final five releases), but Browning was only a last-minute choice to direct the movie version of Dracula after the death of director Paul Leni, who was originally slated to direct.

Following the success of Dracula, Lugosi received a studio contract with Universal. In 1933 he married 19-year-old Lillian Arch, the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. They had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938. Lillian and Béla divorced in 1953, — Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy, in 1966. Lugosi married Hope Lininger in 1953. She had been a fan of his, writing letters to him when he was in hospital recovering from addiction to Demerol. She would sign her letters 'A dash of Hope'.

Typecasting

Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in such movies as Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, and Son of Frankenstein for Universal, and the independent White Zombie. His accent, while a part of his image, limited the roles he could play.

Lugosi did attempt to break type by auditioning for other roles. He lost out to Lionel Barrymore for the role of Rasputin in Rasputin and the Empress; C. Henry Gordon for the role of Surat Khan in Charge of the Light Brigade; Basil Rathbone for the role of Commissar Dimitri Gorotchenko in Tovarich (a role Lugosi had played on stage). He did play the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered Gen. Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in International House.

It is an erroneous popular belief that Lugosi declined the offer to appear in Frankenstein due to make-up (other roles he desired which also required make-up were Cyrano de Bergerac and Quasimodo the bell ringing hunchback). Lugosi may not have been happy with the onerous makeup job and lack of dialogue.

Regardless of controversy, five films at Universal — The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, Son of Frankenstein, Black Friday (plus minor cameo performances in 1934's Gift of Gab) and one at RKO Pictures, The Body Snatcher — paired Lugosi with Karloff. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably got second billing, below Karloff. Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff is the subject of contradictory reports, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to get good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were — for a time, at least — good friends. Karloff himself in interviews suggested that Lugosi was initially mistrustful of him when they acted together, believing that the Englishman would attempt to upstage him. When this proved not to be the case, according to Karloff, Lugosi settled down and they worked together amicably (though some have further commented that Karloff's on-set demand to break from filming for mid-afternoon tea annoyed Lugosi).

Universal tried to give Lugosi more heroic roles, as in The Black Cat, The Invisible Ray, and a romantic role in the adventure serial The Return of Chandu, but his typecasting problem was too entrenched for those roles to help. Lugosi's thick accent also hindered the variety of roles he was offered.

Career path

A number of factors worked against Lugosi's career in the mid-1930s. Universal changed management in 1936, and because of a British ban on horror films, dropped them from their production schedule; Lugosi found himself consigned to Universal's non-horror B-film unit, at times in small roles where he was obviously used for "name value" only. Throughout the 1930s Lugosi, experiencing a severe career decline despite popularity with audiences (Universal executives always preferred his rival Karloff), accepted many leading roles from independent producers like Nat Levine, Sol Lesser, and Sam Katzman. These low-budget thrillers indicate that Lugosi was less discriminating than Karloff in selecting screen vehicles, but the exposure helped Lugosi financially if not artistically. Lugosi tried to keep busy with stage work, but had to borrow money from the Actors' Fund to pay hospital bills when his only child, Bela George Lugosi, was born in 1938. , 1940]] His career was given a second chance by Universal's Son of Frankenstein in 1939, when he played the character role of Ygor, who uses the Monster for his own revenge, in heavy makeup and beard. The same year saw Lugosi playing a straight character role in a major motion picture: he was a stern commissar in MGM's comedy Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo. This small but prestigious role could have been a turning point for the actor, but within the year he was back on Hollywood's Poverty Row, playing leads for Sam Katzman. These horror, comedy and mystery B-films were released by Monogram Pictures. At Universal, he often received star billing for what amounted to a supporting part. The Gorilla had him playing straight man to Patsy Kelly, in a role she told Bose Hadleigh was her finest.

Ostensibly due to injuries received during military service, Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica. Though at first he was treated with pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. The growth of his dependence on pain-killers, particularly morphine and methadone, was directly proportional to the dwindling of screen offers. In 1943, he finally played the role of Frankenstein's monster in Universal's Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, which this time contained dialogue (Lugosi's voice had been dubbed over that of Lon Chaney, Jr., from line readings at the end of 1942's The Ghost of Frankenstein because Ygor's brain had been transplanted into the Monster). Lugosi continued to play the Monster with Ygor's consciousness but with groping gestures because the Monster was now blind. Ultimately, all of the Monster's dialogue and all references to his sightlessness were edited out of the released film, leaving a strange, maimed performance characterized by unexplained gestures and lip movements with no words coming out. He also got to recreate the role of Dracula a second and last time on film in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. By this time, Lugosi's drug use was so notorious that the producers weren't even aware that Lugosi was still alive, and had penciled in actor Ian Keith for the role.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was Béla Lugosi's last "A" movie. For the remainder of his life he appeared — less and less frequently — in obscure, low-budget features. From 1947 to 1950 he performed in summer stock, often in productions of Dracula or Arsenic and Old Lace, and during the rest of the year made personal appearances in a touring "spook show" and on television. While in England to play a six-month tour of Dracula in 1951, he co-starred in a lowbrow movie comedy, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (also known as Vampire over London and My Son, the Vampire). Upon his return to America, Lugosi was interviewed for television, and revealed his ambition to play more comedy, though wistfully noting, "Now I am the boogie man." Independent producer Jack Broder took Lugosi at his word, casting him in a jungle-themed comedy, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. Another opportunity for comedy came in September 1949 when Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on the Texaco Star Theater. Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib. This was depicted in the Tim Burton film Ed Wood, with Martin Landau as Lugosi. Though Burton did not actually identify the comedian in the biopic, the events depicted were correct.

Working with Ed Wood

Late in his life, Béla Lugosi again received star billing in movies when filmmaker Ed Wood, a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as Glen or Glenda and as a Dr. Frankenstein-like mad scientist in Bride of the Monster. During post-production of the latter, Lugosi decided to seek treatment for his drug addiction, and the premiere of the film was said to be intended to help pay for his hospital expenses. According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Frank Sinatra, when the entertainer heard of Lugosi's problems, he helped with expenses and visited at the hospital. Lugosi would recall his amazement, since he didn't even know Sinatra.

The extras on an early DVD release of Plan 9 from Outer Space include an impromptu interview with Lugosi upon his exit from the treatment center in 1955, which provide some rare personal insights into the man. During the interview, Lugosi states that he is about to go to work on a new Ed Wood film, The Ghoul Goes West. This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including The Phantom Ghoul and Dr. Acula. With Lugosi in his famed Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, a suburban graveyard and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. This footage ended up in Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Lugosi married Hope Linninger, his fifth wife, in 1955. Following his treatment, Lugosi made one final film, in late 1955, The Black Sleep, for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists with a promotional campaign that included several personal appearances. To his disappointment, however, his role in this film was of a mute, with no dialogue.

Death

Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 while lying on a couch in his Los Angeles home. He was 73. The rumor that Lugosi was clutching the script for The Final Curtain, a planned Ed Wood project, at the time of his death is not true.

Lugosi was buried wearing one of the Dracula stage play costumes, per the request of his son and fourth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his cloak; Bela G. Lugosi confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, actually made the decision but believed that it is what his father would have wanted.

Plan 9 from Outer Space

One of Lugosi's roles was released posthumously. Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (Originally titled Grave Robbers From Outer Space) features footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double. Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, for a planned vampire picture but was unable to find financing for the project. When he later conceived Plan 9, Wood wrote the script to incorporate the Lugosi footage and hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots. The double is thinner than Lugosi, and in every shot covers the lower half of his face with his cape, as Lugosi sometimes did in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. As Leonard Maltin put it in early editions of his movies guide book, "Lugosi died during production, and it shows."

Legacy

In 1979, the Lugosi v. Universal Pictures decision by the California Supreme Court held that Béla Lugosi's personality rights could not pass to his heirs, as a copyright would have. The court ruled that under California law any rights of publicity, including the right to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death. at 6340 Hollywood Blvd.]] In Tim Burton's 1994 Ed Wood, Lugosi is played by Martin Landau in an interpretation for which Landau received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. According to Bela G. Lugosi (his son), Forrest Ackerman, Dolores Fuller and Richard Sheffield, Lugosi never used profanity, owned small dogs, or slept in coffins. The film fabricated much about the Hungarian actor.

Three Lugosi projects were featured on the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000. The Corpse Vanishes appeared in episode 105, the serial The Phantom Creeps throughout season two and the Ed Wood production Bride of the Monster in episode 423.

An episode of Sledge Hammer titled "Last of the Red Hot Vampires" was a homage to Béla Lugosi; at the end of the episode, it was dedicated to "Mr. Blaskó".

In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast There Are Such Things by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. Focusing on Lugosi and his well documented struggle to escape from the role that had typecast him, the play went on to receive The Hamilton Dean award for best dramatic presentation from the Dracula Society in 2002.

A statue of Lugosi can be seen today on one of the corners of the Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest.

The Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City features a live, 30-minute play that focuses on Lugosi's illegal entry into the country and then his arrival at Ellis Island to enter the country legally.

The cape Lugosi wore in the 1931 film Dracula still survives today in the ownership of Universal Studios.

The theatrical play Lugosi - a vámpír árnyéka (Lugosi - the Shadow of the Vampire, in Hungarian) is based on Lugosi's life, telling the story of his life as he becomes typecast as Dracula and as his drug addiction worsens. He was played by one of Hungary's most renowned actors, Ivan Darvas.

In 1963 Andy Warhol did a big silk screen painting with images of Lugosi from a Dracula movie. The painting is in the collection of the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam NL.

A 1967 episode of the popular fantasy television series I Dream of Jeannie featured a character named Nurse Lugosi who was seen taking blood with a syringe.

Bauhaus, an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978, wrote a song titled, "Béla Lugosi's Dead", released in August 1979, and it is often considered to be the first gothic rock record ever to be released.

Filmography

References

Further reading

Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers, ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover)

The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi by Arthur Lennig (2003), ISBN 0813122732 (hardcover)

Bela Lugosi (Midnight Marquee Actors Series) by Gary Svehla and Susan Svehla (1995) ISBN 1887664017 (paperback)

Bela Lugosi: Master of the Macabre by Larry Edwards (1997), ISBN 188111709X (paperback)

Films of Bela Lugosi by Richard Bojarski (1980) ISBN 0806507160 (hardcover)

Sinister Serials of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. by Leonard J. Kohl (2000) ISBN 1887664319 (paperback)

Vampire over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain by Frank J. Dello Stritto (2000) ISBN 0970426909 (hardcover)

Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape by Robert Cremer (1976) ISBN 0809281376 (hardcover)

External links

{http://thebiofile.com/2010/05/biofile-with-bela-lugosi/ Bio - file interview with Bela Lugosi}

Category:1882 births Category:1956 deaths Category:Hungarian immigrants to the United States Category:Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Lugosi Bela Lugosi Bela Lugosi Bela Lugosi Bela Category:American actors of Hungarian descent Category:American people of Romanian descent Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Lugosi Bela Category:People from Lugoj